2-News
2 — Friday, January 9, 2015
News
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
THREE THINGS YOU
SHOULD KNOW TODAY
Jim
Harbaugh
is
filling out his coaching
staff.
Yesterday,
he
introduced D.J. Durkin as
his defensive coordinator
and
linebackers
coach.
Durkin served as one of
Harbaugh’s
assistants
at
Stanford from 2007 to 2009.
2
CAMPUS EVENTS & NOTES
Helen & Edgar
WHAT: International
Theater will host the
performance, a tale of
a strange childhood in
Savannah, from Edgar
Oliver and the creative
team behind The Moth.
WHO: University Musical
Society
WHEN: Today at 8 p.m.
WHERE: Walgreen
Drama Center
Masters recital
WHAT: Percussionist
Hannah Weaver will
perform a host of
classical pieces using a
range of instruments.
WHO: School of Music,
Theatre & Dance
WHEN: Today at 8 p.m.
WHERE: Earl V. Moore
Building, Rehearsal Hall
New Year
with UMix
WHAT: This week’s
UMix event will feature
many activities, including
live music, DIY vision
boards, free giveaways
and prizes, photo booths, a
Free Midnight Buffet and
a screening of the movie
“Ouija.”
WHO: Center for Campus
Involvement
WHEN: Today from 10 p.m.
to 2 a.m.
Feel Good
Friday
WHAT: The first 40
attendees will win a free
screening of “Selma”.
WHO: Trotter
Multicultural Center
WHEN: Today at 1 p.m.
WHERE: Trotter
Multicultural Center
Please report any
error in the Daily
to corrections@
michigandaily.com.
Next
Wednesday,
the
French satirical magazine
Charlie Hebdo, which
was attacked by gunmen who
killed 12 people, will publish
one million copies instead of
its usual 60,000 to stand up to
“stupidity,” the Straits Times
reported.
1
TUESDAY:
Professor Profiles
THURSDAY:
Student Voice
FRIDAY:
Photos of the Week
WEDNESDAY:
In Other Ivory Towers
MONDAY:
This Week in History
LEFT
Renaud
Garcia-Fons
demonstrates
his
technique
on the double bass for the Sall
Fleming
Masterclass
Series
Tuesday at Stamps Auditorium.
(Sam Mousigian/Daily)
RIGHT Obama gives a speech on
improving the middle class at a
Ford Motor manufacturing plant
in Detroit Wednesday. (Luna
Anna Archey / Daily)
NEED MORE
PHOTOS?
See more Photos of the
Week on our website,
michigandaily.com.
420 Maynard St.
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The Michigan Daily (ISSN 0745-967) is published Monday through Friday during the fall and winter terms by
students at the University of Michigan. One copy is available free of charge to all readers. Additional copies may
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Finance
finance@michigandaily.com
Historical
symposium
WHAT: This symposium
will feature panelists from
the University speaking on
“empathy and experience in
the writing of history.”
WHO: Eisenberg Institute
WHEN: Today from 12
p.m. to 2 p.m.
WHERE: Tisch Hall
Faculty recital
WHAT: Aaron Berofsky on
the violin, Ellen Hwangbo
on the piano and Kathryn
Vopatek on the violin
will play through a set
of classical pieces from
composers Mozart and
Prokofiev.
WHO: School of Music,
Theatre & Dance
WHEN: Today at 8 p.m.
WHERE: Walgreen Drama
Center
The
Midwest
is
experiencing blasts of
arctic air, with Grand
Marai,
Minnesota
registering a -54 degree wind
chill. All-time lows have been
reported in New York and
North Carolina, Weather.com
reported.
3
York faces civil
suit
BY NABEEL CHOLLAMPAT
THE WIRE
Former University
football player Csont’e York,
who was sentenced on two
counts of misdemeanor
assault, is now facing a civil
suit for punching a man last
July.
Tarantino
BY JAMIE BIRCOLL AND
AKSHAY SETH
THE FILTER
Daily Arts Editors Bircoll
and Seth discuss the career
of Quentin Tarantino from
the perspective of a direc-
tor, spanning movies from
“Reservoir Dogs” to “Pulp
Fiction,” in the first part of
an ongoing series.
ON THE WEB...
michigandaily.com
Grand jury investigating loans
to Kansas governor’s campaign
Sam Brownback’s
campaign faces
federal scrutiny
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A
federal grand jury is looking
into loans made to Kansas Gov.
Sam Brownback’s re-election
campaign and has ordered the
state’s ethics chief to testify
next week as part of its investi-
gation, according to a subpoena
obtained by The Associated
Press.
Carol Williams, the executive
director of the Kansas Govern-
mental Ethics Commission, was
summoned to appear before the
grand jury Wednesday in Tope-
ka, according to documents the
AP obtained through an open
records request. She also was
ordered to provide documents
pertaining to loans Brownback’s
campaign received in 2013 and
2014.
The only loans listed on
campaign
disclosure
reports
for those years are one from
Brownback and others from
Lt. Gov. Jeff Colyer. Colyer
loaned Brownback’s campaign
$500,000 in August — the third
such loan the governor’s run-
ning mate made to their re-
election bid — according to the
last disclosure report, filed days
before the November election.
The loans, the first of which
was made in December 2013,
raised eyebrows on the cam-
paign trail because loans in such
large amounts are rare in Kan-
sas political races and because
the money was repaid within
days.
Brownback’s spokeswoman,
Eileen Hawley, said the investi-
gation “has no merit.”
When asked in August about
the reasoning for the loans and
repayment,
Brownback
said,
“I’m not going to explain the
thought process.”
Some Democrats speculated
Thursday the loans were an
attempt to bolster Brownback’s
fundraising totals, to make
the campaign appear in better
shape than it was.
Craig Holman, government
affairs lobbyist for the cam-
paign finance watchdog Public
Citizen, said a political motiva-
tion for the loans wouldn’t have
sparked the grand jury probe.
Although the loans themselves
are probably legal, Holman said,
the timing of them repeated
three times is “quite suspicious.”
Brett Berry, general coun-
sel for the ethics commission,
released the subpoena, which
the agency received on Dec.
9, through the open records
request, but otherwise declined
comment.
Colyer told the AP in August
that the first two $500,000
short-term loans he made to
Brownback’s re-election cam-
paign are examples of the good
stewardship Kansas residents
expect from government offi-
cials.
Earlier finance reports indi-
cate that Colyer made his first
$500,000 loan on Dec. 31, 2013,
the last day covered by a finance
report due in early January
2014, and it was repaid on Jan.
2, 2014. He then made a second
$500,000 loan on July 23, 2014,
the second-to-last day covered
by a finance report due in late
July. That loan was repaid two
days later, when a new reporting
period started.
The third $500,000 loan from
Colyer was made on Aug. 13,
and it’s not clear whether it has
been repaid. The next campaign
finance report, which would
disclose such a repayment, is
due Saturday.
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BUSINESS STAFF
Madeline Lacey University Accounts Manager
Ailie Steir Classified Manager
Simonne Kapadia Local Accounts Manager
Lotus An National Accounts Manager
Olivia Jones Production Managers
Nolan Loh Special Projects Coordinator
Jason Anterasian Finance Manager
University investment fund
designed to bolster startups
Adrenal cancer
company one of
many to recieve
support
BY LINDSEY SCULLEN
Daily Staff Reporter
The Michigan Investment
in New Technology Startups
initiative has invested $6.9
million in 11 different Univer-
sity-based startup companies,
according to the University’s
Investment Office.
MINTS is a $25-million
venture fund managed by the
University’s Investment Office,
established by President Emer-
ita Mary Sue Coleman in 2011.
The initiative invests in start-
up companies that produce
technology developed at and
licensed by the University.
Rafael Castilla, director of
Investment Risk Management
at the University, said these
companies must gain prelimi-
nary funding from an inde-
pendent professional venture
capital investment firm before
qualifying for MINTS funding.
Moreover, MINTS would pro-
vide supplementary support
for research and entrepreneur-
ship.
One of those entrepreneur-
ial research efforts funded by
MINTS is Atterocor, a com-
pany set on developing a new
compound — ATR-101 — for
the treatment of adrenal can-
cer.
Atterocor
co-founder
Julia Owens sad adrenal is
rare, impacting around 1,000
patients in the United States.
Owens said that diseases as
rare as adrenal cancer often
lie “below the radar screen” of
major pharmaceutical compa-
nies.
“It was much more compel-
ling for a startup to take on an
opportunity like this,” Owens
said. “We do think that there
will be a reasonable financial
return for our investors, but by
doing this in a small company,
very capital-efficient manner,
we think that we can do the
development more quickly and
make it financially viable to
develop a drug for such a rare
population.”
Both
Frazier
Healthcare
Ventures and the Michigan
Pre-Seed
Capital
Fund,
a
Michigan Economic Develop-
ment Corporation program led
by the business incubator Ann
Arbor Spark, provided Attero-
cor with $250,000 in seed
funding.
With preliminary financ-
ing under its belt, the company
qualified for MINTS funding
after receiving an introduction
to the venture fund through the
Office of Technology Transfer,
the office in charge of commer-
cializing University-developed
technology and bringing it to
the market.
During its second round of
financing, Atterocor received
$500,000 from MINTS and
$15.5 million from three other
venture funds.
Castilla said MINTS is an
additional support that the
University’s Investment Office
is able to provide to companies
like Atterocor who are rooted
in University research and
entrepreneurship.
Both he and Owens noted
that the University is heav-
ily involved in adrenal cancer
research.
“U of M has a number of
adrenal cancer experts and
adrenal biologists that make
it uniquely positioned to be
involved in starting a company
like Atterocor,” Owens said.
She said this unique posi-
tioning
comes
from
an
endowment made by former
Michigan football coach Bo
Schembechler to the Univer-
sity. Schembechler founded
the Millie Schembechler Adre-
nal Cancer fund in memory of
his wife, thereby providing the
University the money it needed
to inaugurate one of the only
multidisciplinary adrenal can-
cer research centers in the
world.
In addition to holding the
Millie Schembechler Profes-
sorship in Adrenal Cancer,
Atterocor
co-founder
Gary
Hammer is the director of the
Endocrine Oncology Program
in the Comprehensive Can-
cer Center at the University.
The EOP has been recognized
internationally for its accom-
plishments in the treatment
of adrenal cancer. Atterocor is
one of the research initiatives
that has resulted from the cen-
ter.
Castilla
said
MINTS
is
a “small piece” of the Uni-
versity’s
venture
capital
See FUND , Page 3